I realized that i love learning languages after an awful accident while i was working, which sent me to a wheel chair for aproximately a year and a half, my first contact with a foreign language was with the german language and Duolingo i got obssesed with finishing that german tree on duolingo, that i started to search help an resources on social networks the duolingo forums and other sites on the internet, luckily i’ve found more friends to learn and practice with and i managed to finish that german tree from spanish, afterwards i started the italian tree and eventually i got involved in the duolingo events where i met people who were passionate languages learners and i realized that language learning was soo cool
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I was in 6th grade and it was Japanese! Discovering a new world and culture through language was so fun! I ended up studying Japanese through to university then life got in the way. It has been amazing to rediscover this feeling through Persian some 20 years later, though!
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Back in elementary school we had the opportunity to get into a paid English class since it was not part of the normal curriculum. I still vividly remember how I actually made up songs out of the vocabulary we had to learn. Later in 7th grade English became my favorite topic at school and I tried to do as much as I could in that language. I even talked English with a friend of mine and wrote poetry (a little embarrassing though). I have loved languages ever since, took up Spanish in high school and later I even studied English at university 
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Short answer: about 8 years ago by accident!
Long answer: I didn’t like languages or language learning. I studied Engineering, so “people like us don’t learn languages”. But as I was aimlessly browsing the interwebs, I stumbled upon Duolingo and started learning Spanish because it was the first option. I just wanted to test the new website.
As I kept on playing with Spanish on Duolingo, I started having questions about the language and browsed other websites to find answers. I started watching videos on YouTube, too. And somehow I fell in love with the language. I even pushed myself to speak the language with others after 3 months (that was scaaaary!) and planned my first trip to Spain.
I fell in love with languages and they changed me from inside out. I owe everything to them. I found a great job and moved to another country thanks to them. I’m happy I was bored that day and decided to test Duolingo 
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Γειά σου Μαρία! Πώς είσαι! Χαίρομαι που σε βλέπω εδώ!
#hyperpolyglots
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I figured out I really love learning languages about 2 years ago.
Here’s my timeline of exposure:
High school: Spanish class
Early 20s: listen to Rammstein
Mid 20s: send my son to Japanese immersion school
Late 20s: visit Europe
Early 30s: start dancing with Zumba
Mid 30s: start using Duolingo
Today: I enjoy learning languages, learning about language, etymology. I find that the understanding of other languages is fairly easy for me, but the speaking part is the most challenging. I’m determined to achieve a B2 level in each of the 3 languages I’m focused on and then continue from there.
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I realized I enjoyed languages around 6-8 years old.
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For me as a very young child it was a necessity to learn English quickly to be able to attend elementary school in the United States with succes. Later on I chose as my secondary school a grammar school (“Gymnasium”) where foreign languages were normal school subjects. At that time not languages were my hobby but my favourite sports tennis and tabletennis and guitar playing. So it was not difficult to learn languages in my youth, but there was nothing special about it.
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I think for me it started when I wanted to learn French when I was about 6 or 7 years old haha. then when I was able to learn in High School, my teacher and I really clicked and I think that’s genuinely when I fell in love with learning languages. when I went to work for Disney World, I fell in love even more and I spent a lot of time talking to my coworkers in their native language and hanging around Epcot and talking to those employees. it’s been a strange string of events but yea haha.
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When I listened to music from all over the world I’m really into ethnic music.
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I remember really enjoying starting to learn German when I was 13… when I went as an Erasmus student to Germany I became fascinated with lots of languages… that’s when I realized I really liked learning them
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I first started studying English and Spanish… Then in 2008 I started studying Ancient Greek at the University and I realized how awesome it would be if I studied more languages. There are so many in this world and so many ´people to talk with! Besides, I’d like to help them to speak some English, Spanish and my native language, Portuguese. So I’ve decided to speak in a conversational level (something between B1/B2/C1) at least 20 languages by 2030.
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I had to learn English when I moved to the U.S and never though about it as if I liked it or not, it was just something that happened. The only thing was that I seemed to learn at a very fast rate, so I suppose I enjoyed it, but I don’t remember much of the learning process, just some “aha” moments and the fact that ESOL classes (as they were called then in school) weren’t very useful, everything else going on around me was, and the necessity to communicate.
But to answer the question, when I began learning Portuguese and deeply enjoyed the process, the music, the series and books I found! I always had a hunch I liked languages, but didn’t really get into learning for pleasure until a bit into adulthood. I think being a native Spanish speaker helped, obviously, but still!
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I had a background in a multilingual home. My dad being an immigrant speaks Spanish, Italian, German, Arabic, and English. My mom only spoke English and Spanish. However, I always felt the need to learn languages. When it came to taking high school Spanish, I fell in love. Suddenly I realized teaching Languages and becoming a polyglot was my goal in life. So far I’ve been doing great with French, and Spanish. I recently just started Korean as well.
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I hated languages. Granny would speak French and Catalan at me, Mom would use English… I only wanted to speak Low-Middle Class Urban Eastern Caribbean Spanish.
Then love, maturity, exile and life turned me into a field linguist, documenting indigenous languages.
I use the monolingual method as a way to navigate ethnically mega diverse and hyper multilingual landscapes such as rural southern Yunnan where I’ve engaged with 9 distinct varieties In the past two years alone:
South-Western Mandarin
Yuanjianghua
Nisu
Nesu
Hani
Alo
Southern Bai
Phala
and my field language: Phola.
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Born in a multilingual family, I am exposed to different languages since young. My father is Korean and my mother is Taiwanese. Therefore, I have been speaking Korean, Chinese and Taiwanese since young, which explains why I have 3 native languages.
My first foreign language experience was when I went overseas to study in high school and I needed to learn English. Coming from a pure East Asian background, I struggled with English a lot and I didn’t enjoy the learning process back then, which I am thankful for now, being able to communicate in English “fluently”.
My second foreign language experience, which was the one that made me realised I love languages, was back in high school when I met a couple of Malaysian friends. I was so fascinated by the Malay language and I fell in love with Malay music, food and culture. That was when I decided to start learning Malay and also Indonesian shortly after realising how similar these 2 languages are. I was so motivated back then that I would look forward to any opportunity to speak to a Malay or Indonesian speaker. That was when I realised that I love languages, Asian languages to be exact.
I have been learning English, Malay and Indonesian for 9 years and I am glad that I took the decision to study Malay and Indonesian. This started my language learning journey and throughout these 9 years, I’ve seen my English, Malay and Indonesian go from an absolute beginner to a C2 level which made me feel confident in myself. I’ve also started to learn Vietnamese and Cantonese 5 years ago, Japanese 2 years ago and I’ve recently started learning Thai and Swahili.
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In my line of work, I find that I couldn’t “switch off” and my mind is constantly busy, working. I needed something to distract me so that I can relax.
I found it in language learning. When I am learning a new language, my mind would focus on just that one task so much so that time would while away without me knowing.
It’s rather therapeutic for me.
Also, my love for reading. It is my point to read materials in the author’s original written language and not translated version in English.
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Terima kasih! Apa kabar!
Khabar baik. Semoga anda juga sedang menikmati hari Jumaat ini.
I probably realised how much I love languages after I had had my first conversation in German. I was 15 at the time, and German was my 3rd language.
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